Oddest Rules in the NF Book

[rdfox]

Has anyone actually had the "Who Kicks Off" rule invoked by a coach?

I can't wait for the day when the opponents of the scoring team decide to kick off, thus putting their defense back on the field for some additional work.

This one, and the free-kick for a field goal after a fair catch, are my two all-time favorites.

[chiefgil]

Score 62-0, 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Winning team executes a screen pass that goes for 75 yards down to the opponents 2 yard line. All the while the receiver is running up the sideline the head coach is running with him telling him not to score. He finally runs OB at the 2.

Coach calls a timeout.

Yes coach, what is it?
I don't want the ball, I want to give it to the other team.

Coach, this is a Varsity, District game; you can't just give the ball to the other team.
But, I don't want it. We might score again.

Coach, why don't you punt.
I can punt on first down?
It's your ball you can punt on any down you want.

Team A punts, Team B is called for Roughing the Punter.

The coach yells, OK Mr. White Hat, "what do I do now?"

Coach, decline the penalty.

[Snake~eyes]

Originally posted by chiefgil
Score 62-0, 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Winning team executes a screen pass that goes for 75 yards down to the opponents 2 yard line. All the while the receiver is running up the sideline the head coach is running with him telling him not to score. He finally runs OB at the 2.

Coach calls a timeout.

Yes coach, what is it?
I don't want the ball, I want to give it to the other team.

Coach, this is a Varsity, District game; you can't just give the ball to the other team.
But, I don't want it. We might score again.

Coach, why don't you punt.
I can punt on first down?
It's your ball you can punt on any down you want.

Team A punts, Team B is called for Roughing the Punter.

The coach yells, OK Mr. White Hat, "what do I do now?"

Coach, decline the penalty.

lol that's a good story.

I've never seen a team put their defense on the field again but I have seen a team that deferred to the second half and so at halftime they decided to kick it to the other team.

[Jim S]

Had it happen in a JV game in the late 70s in the Santa Clara area. Team behind by two scors about 1/2 way thru the 4th and wanted to try an on=side. Don't remember what happened.

I did once tell a coach who was trying to get rid of the ball to do a long snap with nobody back there.

[shawn.wortman]

About five years age I had a game in which the game ended 5 to 3, the home team lost by 2.

With something over 1 minute left in the game the home team scored a FG to make the game 5-3. The visiting coach, team scored upon, elected to Kick-off. This way he would pin the opposing team deep in their end of the field, instead of giving them a chance for an on-side kick and good field position.

I was puzzled and did seek out the coach after the game to see how he knew about this. He had a volunteer coach who was an official also, imagine that.

[Forksref]

On the flip side, I've seen a team up by 30 points put their first team defense back in the game when the opponent threatened to score for the first time late in the game. That doesn't give that second team defense much of a boost for their egos. Kinda sad to see that in a high school game. I doubt their was a betting line that they were worried about. When you are up by 30, participation should be the name of the game. The coach said that they wanted to meet a defensive goal. I guess the goal is not for all of the players on the team.

[Bob M.]

Originally posted by Forksref
On the flip side, I've seen a team up by 30 points put their first team defense back in the game when the opponent threatened to score for the first time late in the game. That doesn't give that second team defense much of a boost for their egos. Kinda sad to see that in a high school game. I doubt their was a betting line that they were worried about. When you are up by 30, participation should be the name of the game. The coach said that they wanted to meet a defensive goal. I guess the goal is not for all of the players on the team.

REPLY: We had exactly the same thing happen in a playoff game two seasons back. The score was 37-0 near the end of the third quarter. The losing team's second offense had made a pretty good drive against the winning team's second defense. Winning team's coach had his captain ask for a TO after which he sent the first D back into the game. And yes, they were able to shut them down. Considering what we all knew about the coach of the winning team, we weren't surprised. How would you like to have been a player on that second D?

[FredFan7]

Originally posted by rdfox
and the free-kick for a field goal after a fair catch, are my two all-time favorites.

Saw this happen once....in an NFL playoff game!!!

San Francisco vs. Minnesota in the late 80s.

Minn pinned deep late in the first half, and punted on fourth down. SF made a fair catch at midfield. They then elected to kick off and try to split the uprights for a FG. They missed badly, but it was fun to see the mechanics of how they set that up. Markbreit did the game.

Even more impressive, is that Madden predicted what Walsh was going to do and said so on TV!

[ljudge]

The other weird one is a 1-point safety that can be awarded on a try. I have never heard of a 1-point safety until I put stripes on.

[Jim S]

That's what makes it such a great bar bet!

[PiggSkin]

Saw this happen once....in an NFL playoff game!!!

San Francisco vs. Minnesota in the late 80s.

Minn pinned deep late in the first half, and punted on fourth down. SF made a fair catch at midfield. They then elected to kick off and try to split the uprights for a FG. They missed badly, but it was fun to see the mechanics of how they set that up. Markbreit did the game.

Even more impressive, is that Madden predicted what Walsh was going to do and said so on TV! [/B]

I remember that game... The thing that struck me at the time was the kicker (Mike Cofer?) looked completely confused about the situation... I couldn't help but think that he didn't really believe what was going on, and that's why he missed so badly...

If he had kicked the ball any worse, he would've been flagged for a free kick out of bounds...

[JugglingReferee]

Originally posted by ljudge
The other weird one is a 1-point safety that can be awarded on a try. I have never heard of a 1-point safety until I put stripes on.

The Canadian game has a way to score 1 point. It's called the rouge and it happens when the ball goes dead in your possession while you're in your endzone, if the ball was kicked into the EZ by Team A.

How does the US gmae score 1 point?

[bigwes68]

Originally posted by shawn.wortman
About five years age I had a game in which the game ended 5 to 3, the home team lost by 2.

With something over 1 minute left in the game the home team scored a FG to make the game 5-3. The visiting coach, team scored upon, elected to Kick-off. This way he would pin the opposing team deep in their end of the field, instead of giving them a chance for an on-side kick and good field position.

I was puzzled and did seek out the coach after the game to see how he knew about this. He had a volunteer coach who was an official also, imagine that.

Shawn,

Who played in that game?

--WT

Originally posted by JugglingReferee

The Canadian game has a way to score 1 point. It's called the rouge and it happens when the ball goes dead in your possession while you're in your endzone, if the ball was kicked into the EZ by Team A.

How does the US gmae score 1 point?

8.3.3 SITUATION: During a try, a fumble by A1 is nearly at rest on the 3-yard line when a muff by B1 is judged to be a new force causing the ball to go into B's end zone where B2 recovers and: (a) downs the ball in the end zone; or (b) advances to his 10-yard line. RULING: The try ends and the ball becomes dead when B2 recovers. In any ordinary down, such a dead ball in the end zone would be a safety, therefore, one point is scored for A in both (a) and (b). B cannot score during a try down. (4-2-2i; 8-1; 8-5-2b)

[KWH]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tpaul

...B cannot score during a try down...

Unless the game happens to be played in OREGON during 2004 or 2005 where B is allowed to score on a try!